Abstract
Recently, the gender asterisk (“Gendersternchen”) has become more widespread in grammatical gender languages in order to represent all genders. Such gender-fair language is intended to help better address women and other genders and make their interests and achievements more visible. Critics often argue this would make the language less comprehensible and less aesthetically appealing. Two experiments examined the effects of the gender asterisk on text comprehensibility, aesthetic perception, and interest. N = 159 and N = 127 participants were randomly provided with a text in either masculine-only form or alternatively in gender-fair language with the gender asterisk. The results of the first experiment showed no impairment of comprehensibility and aesthetic evaluation of the texts by the gender asterisk and no effect on interest in the game, while the second experiment showed significant impairments of comprehensibility, aesthetic evaluation, and interest in the game by the gender asterisk. The proportion of singular forms is discussed as a possible explanation for the different results. Experiment 1 predominantly used plural forms like die Spieler*innen (∼“the fe*male players”) and did not include forms such as der*die Spieler*in (∼“the*the fe*male player”), whereas Experiment 2 included many such more complex singular forms. We argue that this issue might be crucial, and that it deserves full attention in future studies.
Highlights
Languages differ widely regarding the representation of gender. Gygax et al (2019) distinguish (1) genderless languages, (2) genderless languages with a few traces of grammatical gender, (3) natural gender languages, (4) languages with a combination of grammatical gender and natural gender, and (5) grammatical gender languages
In languages with a combination of grammatical gender and natural gender like Dutch or Norwegian, some nouns refer to a specific gender, but the majority of nouns referring to humans do not Comprehensibility of Gender-Fair Language refer to a specific gender, while pronouns typically are assigned to a specific gender
This experiment investigated the question whether the use of the gender asterisk makes texts less comprehensible and leads to more interest in the subject described
Summary
Languages differ widely regarding the representation of gender. Gygax et al (2019) distinguish (1) genderless languages, (2) genderless languages with a few traces of grammatical gender, (3) natural gender languages, (4) languages with a combination of grammatical gender and natural gender, and (5) grammatical gender languages. Gygax et al (2019) distinguish (1) genderless languages, (2) genderless languages with a few traces of grammatical gender, (3) natural gender languages, (4) languages with a combination of grammatical gender and natural gender, and (5) grammatical gender languages In genderless languages such as Finnish or Turkish, there are only a few nouns and pronouns that are assigned to a gender. In languages with a combination of grammatical gender and natural gender like Dutch or Norwegian, some nouns refer to a specific gender, but the majority of nouns referring to humans do not Comprehensibility of Gender-Fair Language refer to a specific gender, while pronouns typically are assigned to a specific gender. In grammatical gender languages such as Czech, French, German, or Spanish, nouns and most pronouns are assigned to a gender and the feminine forms are often derivations of the masculine forms. In German, for example, many feminine forms are formed by adding the suffix -in to the masculine form in the singular and the suffix -innen in the plural, e.g., Lehrer, Lehrerin for “teacher (masculine), teacher (female)” and Lehrer, Lehrerinnen for “teachers (masculine), teachers (female).”
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